Changing the header

You might remember me mentioning a website about blogging a few posts back. Anyway they have  a 31 day blogger challenge to get you started on your blog. And challenge one was basically change your blog description or elevator pitch as they call it.

Or create one if you didn't have a description. Well I tend to go with lengthy, wise and looong quotes. Half a page from some great mind of humanity is my blog description. Well that doesn't tell people what your blog is about and that might be problem for people who have never seen your blog before.

Your blog has a title in the header but also a blog description. And that description needs to tell your potential readers in a sentence or two what you blog is about and what makes it interesting for them to read.

So I got about four blogs that needed a relevant description what they are about. It took me a couple of days to figure out four descriptions for each one of my blogs. Well technically it's the same blog but in different language and blog portals. So they were custom fitted for each blog and I think it worked out rather well. Links to the right...

Busy day

Well today was sort of a busy  day but we got everything done that we had scheduled to do =).

A pro blogger

As some of my readers may have noticed I've have had a bloggers block for the last few years or more truthfully most of this decade. Not that I think any of my readers are still around due to the not so frequent updates.

However I found this website or I actually fond their podcast first on how to improve you blogging. It's called ProBlogger and I'm truly impressed and inspired to start blogging more frequently again. With 8,000 blogging advice posts, over 100 podcast episodes, a community with over 300,000 bloggers, Facebook group (82,000 members), Twitter account (236,000 followers) and some other web sites, this got to be the Internet Bible of blogging. What you can't learn here you can't learn anywhere else.

I think I have some reading to do and some blogging =)

Web browsers

It's been a long time since I've written anything here but I thought I would say a few things about web browsers. First of all Chrome works better on Android phones than other browsers since they are both made by Google. For example the only web browser on your Android phone you can download pictures with is Chrome. According to Google they haven't disabled  that option for other browsers but some functions works better with Chrome. So on my phone I'm stuck with Chrome because I want to have the ability to download pictures.

Don't get me wrong Chrome for PC:s is a fast browser and very much integrated into Google. And you can easily sync your bookmarks, just log into Google in Chrome on any device and it's all there. So that's why I have been using Chrome on my laptop as the default browser.

However as a blogger who has the ambition to write blog posts in three different languages, the spellchecking function doesn't work that well. It underlines the words that are spelled wrong but doesn't give any suggestions. And for Finnish there's no spell checker at all, which is the language I definitely need to improve.

So I'm now using Firefox on my laptop...

Lazy

I'm sorry for being a lazy blogger lately. Well I'm still lazy. But I really think I should make a serious attempt of trying to improve my knowledge of the Finnish language. I really need to do that and since my blogging is generally quite slow these days, why not? So if you speak it or just understand it, please check out Pohjoismaisesta näkökulmasta. And if you don't, please hang around this blog for some more blog posts in English, eventually, now and then...

Yeah I know this sounded a bit too commercial but it's a blog post, I'm posting =).

Blogging on my phone is not that great

Lately on the Windows Phone blogosphere there have arisen a few problems, mainly with Blogger. The is that if you load this page I'm on now writing my blogpost (on my PC) you see a bar above this text where you can insert a link or a photo, they no longer work. I don't know if it's because Microsoft did some changes to their web browser on WP or Google made their blog writing page less accessible for either IE or smart phones in general. Short story, not being able to post links or pictures in you blog is bad. There are some workarounds and several step processes to work around this but on your phone it's too tedious. Well HBlog works...

The blog of the mobile generation

With the common use of smart phones today the internet has moved in part from people's desks to their pockets. No longer do we need to go home and start up our desktop computer in order to go online.

And with that so have some blogs moved along. Smart phones are great for reading and commenting blogs. However writing an actual blog post on your smart phone takes time.

So the blogs got shorter. There was a micro-blog service released before smart phones became common. We all know it, it's called Twitter. Today Twitter and smart phones are a perfect match. You may not produce lengthy, intelligent and well thought out blog posts like we did when we blogged a decade ago. Time changes and Twitter is the blog of the mobile generation.

New name

You may have noticed I have changed the name of my blog. Yesterday I came up with the idea to specialize my blogs. The Finnish one would be about everyday stuff, a bit of everything so I can improve my Finnish langauge skills by learning new words and new grammar. I'm keeping that idea.

My Swedish blog would be about fitness, training and health. Great idea, I even changed the name of the blog to something more fitness oriented. I do came to realize  there's a lot of other stuff I want to write about too. And eventually I would run out of of fitness stuff to write about. Turning into a fitness blog sorts of constrict other things I want to write about. It is still a good idea so whenever I want to write about exercise and health it will happen in that blog, nowhere else.

The last idea was  my worst. Turning this one into a World of Warcraft blog. It's what I do with most of my free time when I'm not spending it with my family and I also write a lot about it on Facebook. Yes I did the World of Warcraft name change there too. And I probably would have run out of ideas to write about in a blog after a few posts. But part of that idea was good. When I write about World of Warcraft it will happen here.

As a result of this I changed the name of all my blogs to the same name, exactly the same name in 3 languages. They are now more streamlined and similar than they have ever been, because I tried to diverse them. Calling them Nordic also gives a broader view on things, less local, more regional.  Hmm did that sound too much like a politician? Doesn't matter really, it's my blog.

A healthier life

Yes this is New Year's resolutions time. And a few of them actually started the later part of last year. So these were not invented on New Years Eve. First of all I hired a gym card at the local gym. From 15th December to 18th January. Working well so far. I'm not sure if I will seek a permanent  membership but so far I like going there.

Another thing with living a healthier life is eating healthy. That is not an issue really except eating too much of the healthy food. So being more strict with the meal schedule have to be imposed. That is not always possible with 3 kids and shift work but I'll try when I can.

And the last thing for this blog post. My bloggers block. Having goals and a schedule is important when you want to achieve something. That goes for training, eating, blogging and many other things in life. Aim high but be realistic. Aim to high and you will quit. Be all realistic and aim too low and you won't change anything. But I want change so this is how I will bring change to my blogs. One blog post per every 10 day period for mu blog in English AND for my blog in Swedish. So that is 3 blog posts per month for this blog. If you read my Swedish blog you will find 3 blog posts there too. I also intend to improve my Finnish language skills this year so there I will try to post at least 1 blog post per day. I know it's not always possible but learning a language that is so different from your own mother tongue requires time and dedication.

For my Finnish readers

I have my blogs, web pages and other web accounts all linked together. So if you go looking for my blog this is probably where you will land first. But if if you happen to know Finnish or are a native Finnish speaker I would like to recommend my other blog. It's written in Finnish and called: Suomenruotsalaisia ajatuksia

Finding my way back

I have begun exploring the world of blogging again. Joining different blogging groups on Facebook and blogging communities on Google+. And the most important thing of all; writing a few blog posts. I've needed a different approach to blogging than I had 5 years ago and I think I'm finding out what that is.

I'm not sure how to describe it in words but momentary blogging is  not my thing. I don't have the time or ability to do that. What I need to do is to think out a few blogging issues while I don't have the ability to blog and then write about them when I do have the time.

Another thing, the HBlog app for Windows Phone is a much better app than I thought it to be. I didn't like it at first but it's much more useful than going trough the Blogger web page on my phone. It does all the thing it's supposed to do in a simple way and nothing else. It doesn't feel tedious writing with it as it can do trough the web page on the phone. I like it.

Writing season

I know I have periods when I write less. I also have periods when I write more. That also goes for blog commenting. I always read blogs, all the time. But sometimes I feel like I have nothing to add to the blog by commenting it.

Lately I have been really drawn towards blogging again. I realize I need to change the style of blogging. Back in the old days I used to think of something, sit down and blog about it. With a family that doesn't happen often. Yes I still get several ideas daily for a great blog post but it's all forgotten once I sit down in front of a computer. So shorter blogs on my phone this one is written on my phone and it's tedious) and longer posts, somewhat planned ahead, when I know I have the time.

Twitter & Instagram

I wish I had more time and inspiration to blog but I don't.  So for those interested in my life look to the right of this blog  post. There's a Twitter feed and a link to my Instagram page. It's only short comments and a few snapshots of my life and my thoughts. Something to read in between those blog posts that do get written sometimes.

Tropiclandia

Today we spent a couple of hours at the local spa (Tropiclandia) with the kids. It was fun and we were all tired afterwards.

This is all written with the tablet and I think I will never write long blog posts with this.

HBlog vs Blogger

After trying out Google's own app for Blogger I think HBlog for WP is the better app. I'm writting this with the Blogger app on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 3. It's a wonderfull tablet but blogging all together are meant to be done with a keyboard.

Test

This is a test, using HBlog. In order to see how labeling works...

New blog app

So I downloaded this app called HBlog for Windows Phone. It's basically as simple blog writer for Blogspot. You can even add photos they say. I haven't tried that yet. So a blog writer for when you are out there somewhere and  maybe due to a slow internet or your limitation of bandwidth for this month is closing in on you and you can't or don't want to load the whole Blogger webpage in order to write something that is too long for Twitter or is missing a picture for Instagram. Since my mother tongue is not English I write way too long sentences.

I really don't blog that much any more bit having the possibility to do so on the run is something that makes me feel comfortable. I like to be preprepared. It's a part of my personality.

Social networking

I like Facebook. It has brought people I would not otherwise have any contact with  into my online social network. And it's great for getting updated on what you friends and relatives are doing. And planning social events with other people  without it is virtually impossible. I would even say that is has become as important as your phone or TV. You can live without them but it will make life very difficult.

BUT once you have gotten everybody on board it has sort of turned into this little village. And little villages are full of gossip, showing off, drama, people spying on each other, small close knit friends groups that shun outsiders and people with a different opinion or lifestyle than theirs and so on. And frankly it's crippling creativity.

So I've been looking at alternatives. And the result is more blogging (right here), more tweeting and a bit of instagramming. Yes Facebook does have everything but somewhere along the road it turned into a utility, just like your washing machine. You need it but the entertainment factor has plummeted.

Twitter and Instagram are fairly simple and yes I know the later is owned by Facebook. But in all their simplicity they are fun. Last night I took a picture in the dark of the backyard ice rink I've built the last few weeks and put it up on Instagram and you know what, it felt like fun. I haven't had that feeling for Facebook in years. And you can automatically share your tweets and Instagram photos to Facebook.

And when it comes to creativity, I had a great blog. I used to love updating it every day. And I had always something to write. That is creativity and I guess that is what I'm trying to get back to...

Do I really need to start blogging again?

I joined a couple of blogging communities over at Google+ simply called Blog Community and Blogging. I posted a comment on one of them so I guess I'll have to make some effort to actually start blogging again. I know I sound like it's a tedious chore but blogging was fun. I really liked it. I just haven't done it actively in a few years so I feel a bit rusty. I am a bit rusty.

But  finding some fellow bloggers to share your blog with and read an comment there is what every blogger need. A sense of community. So this could work because this is an actual blog post...

I'm back

Well I still like this blog too much to move over to Wordpress. And I really don't blog that much more because I got a smart-phone now. Not to mention that the Wordpress app for Windows phone really doesn't work that well and I got Twitter to work here on my Blogger blogs and most of my old readers do follow this blog.